This Week In Education: Thompson: Cross Examination
Much of Steven Brill’s New Yorker article on the "Rubber Room," has a ring of truth, but I do not know enough about those disputes to comment. Had Brill adequately cross examined other charges, however, the last third of his article would have been edited out.
Brill uses the stupid and inflammatory words of teachers against them, which is fair, as he also cross examines their factual assertions. But Brill seemed deaf to the false and inflammatory nature of his sources’ words.
And before considering other versions of the TNTP ideals, we should muse about this:
"Consider a framework that automatically fires the bottom x percent of teachers in terms of value added in a single year or average value added over a number of years. Unobserved differences among schools and classrooms almost certainly influence the estimates, and test error certainly introduces a degree of randomness. Consequently, mistakes will be made; however, outcomes could still improve compared with the system without such decision rules. Nonetheless, the implications of adding such risk and uncertainty may necessitate a substantial salary increase, and these monetary costs as well as costs associated with increased turnover would have to be weighed against any improvements in the composition of teachers."
And even if the bottom x perecent are not automatically fired, they are still indicted as suspect teachers placing them at the mercy of y percent of administrators caught up with the blame game and guilt by association. - John Thompson
